Departing Neosho mayor comes out of the closet wearing Proud Boy attire

 

Bill Doubek picked his final city council meeting as Neosho's mayor to come out of the closet.

When he emerged, he was wearing a t-shirt with a large PB in the middle.

There's nothing wrong with PB when it is mixed with jelly, but this particular PB, the shirt and insignia made clear stood for Proud Boys, the national outfit which has had its leader indicted for his role in planning the January 6 insurrection and which has had numerous other members arrested and charged for their participation.

Doubek wore the shirt as he conducted business during the regular council meeting, including posing for photos as he presented a proclamation to representatives from the local State Farm agency, then after he said his goodbyes and was headed out the door, he made a point of opening his jacket, appearing to want to leave the message, "Boy, I am proud to be a Proud Boy.'

The local chapter of the Proud Boys, the Ozark Mountain Proud Boys, has inflicted itself on Neosho for the past few years, creating a controversy over being allowed to have a booth at the annual Neosho Fall Festival and leading a disrespectful display directed at medical professionals during a special Neosho City Council meeting to discuss a proposed mask ordinance at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was noted in the December 16, 2020 Turner Report:

Wear masks, wash your hands, maintain proper social distancing.

When medical professionals took that message to the Neosho Civic Center Tuesday night, they were swept away by a tidal wave of self-righteousness, a display of behavior that would not be permitted at a professional wrestling match and a bizarre orgy of self-satisfied selfishness as they intimidated the Neosho City Council into social distancing itself from a proposal that was guaranteed to save lives.

They ranted about socialism, they quoted Bible verses, they cited "facts" that came from any unreliable source that agreed with their opinions.

"Masks do not work. That's a fact. Look it up. Do the research," one man said, also using the despicable argument about the low percentages who are dying from COVID.

(Recently, the U. S. death toll passed the number of Americans who died in World War II. Thankfully, few of this sort were here then to bray at elected officials about why we should have to sacrifice by rationing when only a small percentage of soldiers had given the ultimate sacrifice.)

They argued that most of those who are dying are in nursing homes.

Of course, people do work in those nursing homes and go home to their families and mix with people in the community, but the idea is that it's a bunch of old people who are dying, so why should the rest of us have to inconvenience ourselves.

One speaker compared the ordinance to the way slaveholders controlled their slaves.

It was offensive. Naturally, he received a generous round of applause.

They proudly paraded their maskless faces to the microphone and explained why masks don't work.

And they gleefully mocked and shouted down the professionals, who have watched as the COVID wards at local hospitals have filled with patients, many of them from Neosho. After all, that was the hospitals' problems and, according to the shouted crowd commentary, they were raking in the money from the coronavirus.

Dr. Robert McNab, head of Freeman's COVID-19 unit, was met with jeers and disrespect. Audience members picked up their chairs at one point and turned their backs to a man who has fought valiantly for several months to save lives.

Yet McNab received better treatment from the audience than Steven Douglas, the public relations director at Access Family Care, as the audience shouted and prevented him from speaking.

They bullied Lori Marble of Mercy as she spoke.

Among those orchestrating the circus were members of the Ozark Mountain Proud Boys, shouting at will, berating the speakers from the medical facilities and the council members.

The results were easily predictable after the shameless display of bullying.

When council member Angela Thomas made the motion to approve the mask ordinance, it died for lack of a second.

A second proposed ordinance would have put occupancy restrictions into effect. There was no need to even bring that up.

On the social media platform, Parler, that provides access to everyone, the Ozark Mountain Proud Boys, boasted of its success at defending its Constitutional rights to bully, berate and be proud of it.
Neosho Council found out, yet again, we value freedom and liberty. Peddle your bullshit mask mandates and occupancy restrictions somewhere else. That dog don't hunt here.

When the Proud Boys turned their faces and showed their behinds to the medical professionals at that meeting, they showed a contempt for our system and a misunderstanding of freedom (even though those who saw their faces and behinds said they were indistinguishable).

Doubek's choice of attire for his final council meeting and his beaming pride as he fully revealed his Proud Boys t-shirt just before his departure, also showed contempt- contempt for the people of Neosho.

Immediately after that reveal, Doubek turned his back and left.

Now that is a gesture Neosho residents can appreciate.